Beyond the obvious panic purchases of hand sanitizer, face masks and the like, how has the coronavirus impacted anybody's life so far? What kind of announcements, policies, or actions has everyone's companies, schools, and other businesses (daycare, etc) taken?

So far, my company has required all business travel be approved by management first, and is effectively banning vendor visits. Beyond that, it's mostly just been generic reminders about proper hygiene, heavily encouraging people that are exhibiting any respiratory symptoms to stay home, increasing frequency of cleaning of surfaces like doors and tables, and making additional cleaning materials available to employees.

A friend of a friend is a professor at UW-Whitewater, which has apparently cancelled in-person classes and is moving to online-only until further notice.

Porforis, what a GREAT IDEA for a thread

We are a small M&A boutique, so we make our own rules, so keep that in mind for answers in addressing your questions:
[list][*]We only travel for deal execution, no more marketing[*]We have had one deal pulled because the buyer, a Swiss company, is scared shitless[*]Some of our guys wash our hands more than we did[*]As I was germaphobe anyway, there has been very little difference in my day to day[/list]After great panic, there is always great opportunity and change. I expect:[list][*]US manufacturing to skyrocket. We cant have 85% of our antibiotics made in China[*]Country Club Rinos who have forever screwed American Labor will begin so see the light[*]The market will drop another 10-20% and there will be HUGE opportunity for those with the cajones to invest[*]As a country, we will finally realize that the 'state' can't take care of us, because it will always be behind the curve and have to ration.[*]I will now feel justified being an a-hole to people on flights who constantly cough and suck up the snot in their noses...rude.[/list]

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no changes whatsoever.
We are a 3-4 person office. (My brother- the boss- often works from his home office.) People come in get their quotes (insurance) and make their payments just like before.

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I don’t understand all the fear mongering. Yes, if you catch it, you will be sick for awhile. But unless your body is really weak already, just like flu, you will recover.
Are we supposed to quit living because of this “new” bug?
I also wonder if using all these hand sanitizer and other crap doesn’t weaken us. How can your body fight off germs if our system never comes in contact?
All these sanitizers kill “99.9%” of germs.
It’s that .1% that it doesn’t kill that will kill YOU.
So.....I myself won’t do anything really different. I wash my hands the same as I did before the scare.

Unless you close yourself off from the world, you MIGHT catch a bug.

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Geez....the NBA just shut the season down because a player tested positive.
Doesn’t it figure? The ONE season the Milwaukee Bucks had the realistic chance to win it all, and some stupid germ shut it down.
How many people are killed around the world every year from influenza? But we don’t hear much about that.

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I think we are on the precipice of, if not past, over-reaction to this thing.

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Bucks drop a few games, NBA suspends the season. That's power.

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A few things.

1. The flu is a seasonal epidemic that is extremely well known, and constantly in the population. While we see spikes during "flu season", people aren't all getting sick within a very short time period. The COVID-19 is a brand new virus that just hopped the species barrier that nobody has immunity to (besides those that already got it and recovered) that is rapidly spreading around the world. If you say, start seeing widespread community transmissions like you did early on in China and in Italy, everyone's getting sick all at once. Maybe only 5% of people that get it will require hospitalization, but if that happens all at once, the health system is completely overwhelmed which affects everyone that needs hospitalization, not just coronavirus patients. Current estimates are that between 40-70% of Americans will get the coronavirus this year. We're past the point of preventing this from spreading to the majority of the population. Things like shutting down the NBA season are mainly geared towards SLOWING DOWN the spread, so not everyone is getting sick at once.

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19780273/flattening_the_curve_final.jpg 

2. COVID-19 spreads easier than the flu - Asymptomatic people can still spread it, people that become symptomatic can spread it up to 5 days before symptoms arrive (compared to around 1 for the flu), and it can survive in the air for up to three hours (comparable to flu), and on surfaces like plastic or stainless steel for 2-3 days (compared to 1-2 days for the flu).

3. While yes, the proper way for you and I to deal with the coronavirus is the same as we should with the flu... The simple fact of the matter is that people DON'T deal with the flu they way they should. By and large people don't wash their hands correctly, touch their faces constantly, come in to work either willingly or out of necessity when sick, don't alter plans if they're feeling sick and expose themselves to groups of people in close proximity.

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What's the problem with touching your face? I understand washing your hands correctly. I just am not sure how touching your face is good or bad, or what purpose it has to being mentioned.

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